Ken Bouchard (pronounced BOO-shard, born April 6, 1955) is an American former

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

driver and the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Rookie of the Year. His brother

Ron Bouchard Ronald R. Bouchard (November 23, 1948December 10, 2015) was an American NASCAR driver who was the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His brother Ken Bouchard was the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His father-in-law, Ed Flemk ...

was the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Rookie of the Year and one-time

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

race winner.

Modified career

Before he came to

, Bouchard was a modified racer in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

. He won eleven

modified races in one season. He was voted one of NASCAR Modified’s 50 Greatest Drivers of All-Time. He then ran a part-time Busch Series schedule. He has driven for car owners including Sonny Koszela #15, and Len Boehler #3. Bouchard had success driving the Ted Marsh #55 in which he won several races and championships.

Winston Cup career

He made his

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

debut in 1987 at the

Miller American 400 The NASCAR Cup Series has held stock car races annually at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan since 1969. Traditionally, the track held two Cup Series races, one in June, around Father's Day weekend and another in August. The A ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, finishing 32nd after suffering oil pressure problems. The next year, he raced full-time in

in an unsponsored car owned by Bob Whitcomb. Despite this, he finished 8th at

North Carolina Speedway Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, ...

and defeated promising rivals

Ernie Irvan Virgil Earnest "Ernie" Irvan (born January 13, 1959), occasionally referred to as Swervin' Irvan, is an American former professional stock car racing driver. A retired NASCAR competitor, he is best remembered for his comeback after a serious head ...

and

Brad Noffsinger Brad Noffsinger (born August 29, 1960) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. Now retired as a driver, he formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Busch Series; following his stock car racing career, he ...

to become the 1988 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. In 1989, however, he was released from his ride after just four races. He returned in 1993, running three races for

Thee Dixon The word ''thou'' is a grammatical person, second-person grammatical number, singular pronoun in English language, English. It is now largely archaism, archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word ''you'', although it remains in u ...

in his #85

Safety-Kleen Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. is a company that provides services such as collecting and recycling oil, providing industrial cleaning, and handling industrial waste. In addition, their products include cleaning equipment, antifreeze and coolant, win ...

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

Ford. He ran his last

race in 1994 at the

Hooters 500 The Ambetter Health 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. William Byron is the defending race winner. This race was originally Atlanta's second race of the season and was run as a late-se ...

, where his #67 Ford expired after 280 laps because of valve trouble, finishing 29th. Since then, Bouchard has competed in 5

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

races. He also attempted several

events, but failed to qualify for each of them, the last of which was the 1999 Pepsi 400, in the #84 Chevy sponsored by Island Oasis.

Driving instructor career

Bouchard now operates the Drive to Victory Lane Racing School at

Thompson International Speedway Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP), formerly Thompson Speedway and Thompson International Speedway, is a motorsports park in Thompson, Connecticut, featuring a asphalt oval racetrack and a road racing course. Once known as the " Indiana ...

. He finished 13th in the "Icebreaker 2006"

Whelen Modified Tour event at the track.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

=Daytona 500

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

Busch North Series

Winston West Series

Whelen Southern Modified Tour

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

Official Website of Bouchard's racing schoolDriver statistics at racing-reference.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard, Ken 1955 births Living people NASCAR drivers Sportspeople from Fitchburg, Massachusetts Racing drivers from Massachusetts